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PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (December 31, 2001 - PINA Nius Online)---Papua New Guinea Defense Force soldiers may be withdrawn from Bougainville soon because there are no funds to keep them on the island, the military reports.

Defense Force chief Brigadier General Peter Ilau said the force's budget had been slashed.

He said: "We are looking in that direction of withdrawing troops because ... we don’t have the funds next year to maintain them on the ground."

He said using the air wing and engineering battalion commercially would bring in some degree of self-sufficiency to the force.

But General Ilau said at the same time he did not want it to end up as a primary business.

YAREN, Nauru (January 1, 2001 – Radio Australia)---More than 300 asylum seekers have been sent from Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean to Nauru in the latest Australian government-arranged transfer.

Chartered aircraft were used to fly the detainees to the Central Pacific in two stages.

A spokesman for Australia’s Department of Immigration said the first transfer occurred before Christmas.

The second flight on New Year’s Eve carried 180 people to Nauru, where that nation's Government has agreed to provide additional facilities for people awaiting processing of their temporary entry applications.

An Australian immigration spokesperson said there are no immediate plans for the remaining detainees on Christmas Island to be sent to the Pacific.

ROME, Italy (December 27, 2001 – Asia Pulse/Joyo Indonesian News/TAPOL)---The Indonesian province of Irian Jaya will send workers to study shipbuilding technology in Italy because it wants to develop its shipbuilding industry, according to a spokesman from the Indonesian embassy in Rome.

"The province wants to develop its shipbuilding industry because it has huge (economic) potential, particularly in Jayawijaya district," spokesman Al Busyra Basnur said.

A 17-member delegation from Jayawijaya visited Italy December 19-20 to conduct a comparative study and look for investors for the district's shipbuilding industry, he added.

"Italy has previously offered to buy ships from us, but for the time being, we still have to train people for that," head of the delegation, Dance Y. Flassy said.

Flassy added that he has also invited other districts in the province to participate in the Consultative Team for Papua Province's Autonomy Development (CONTPAD), to help...

HAGÃ TÃA, Guam (January 1, 2002 - Marianas Variety/PINA Nius Online)---A distinguished member of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, will share his expertise with the University of Guam this month.

Dr. William Fenical will present lectures on "Marine Microorganisms - A New Resource for Drug Discovery," and "Natural Mechanisms of Defense Against Marine Microbial Pathogens and Saprophytes."

He will also conduct research.

A University of Guam statement said: "He is a world expert on the natural products chemistry of marine microorganisms, including marine bacteria and fungi. His research has focused on micro-biological, problems relevance to the biochemical marine and environmental sciences."

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (December 21, 2001 – Marshall Islands Journal)---The Ministry of Finance's cash-flow situation is the best it's been in years, according to top Finance officials.

The development is the result, primarily, of two reasons:

Â§ significantly increased local revenues as a result of better tax collections and enforcement of penalty provisions.

Â§ during 2001, Finance staff have gained reimbursement from U.S. federal agencies for grants dating back as far as five years.

Finance officials indicated that payment of penalty fees rose above $300,000 in fiscal year 2001, a more than four-fold increase over the previous year.

Overall, government revenue in 2001 was $900,000 above the projection at the beginning of the year; the Ministry of Finance ended the year with $2 million over expenditures, which Finance Secretary Saeko Shoniber attributed to tightening spending controls at the Ministry.

SUVA, Fiji Islands (January 1, 2002 - Sun)---Reconciliation will not be easy. This needs the support and concern of every citizen if we are to succeed in building a country in which we can all live happily side by side.

Ms. Swamy attracted the PM’s attention for saying reconciliation and the future depended on all working together, regardless of race or religion during her crowning.

In a letter to Ms. Swamy, Mr. Qarase thanked her for helping champion the cause of reconciliation.

"As a young woman of Fiji with significant talents and abilities, you can exert a very positive influence on young people by speaking on this issue often and encouraging them to do the same among their friends and peers, their families and workmates.

"Fiji needs role models who, through their understanding and love of the universal values of tolerance and goodwill, can become a shining...

Today caps what they said has been a busy season of collectively churning out thousands of pies, cakes, cookies and other holiday treats every day beginning the week of Thanksgiving.

At Elite Bakery, Louella Villo said she was particularly surprised by a surge of customers the day before Christmas.

Villo, whose family owns Elite Bakery, said she expected that sales would slow because of a typhoon watch. But as soon as Guam's skies cleared, she said, people dashed out for last minute shopping for Christmas goodies at the Tamuning bakery.

The robust demand, despite a weakened economy, demonstrates, Villo said, that the spirit of the holiday celebration prevailed over...

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.